Combat in SEV

[Captain Kwok]

Like Douglas mentioned, there is a stepped-pause feature. This means you can halt the combat every X seconds (i.e. 1, 2, 4, 5 etc) automatically. This can be used to create essentially the same situation as traditional SE:IV tactical combat with the exception (and improvement to fairness IMO) that the ships will execute their orders and movement at the same time.

Alternatively, you may even choose to control a single ship in the combat (pretending you're its captain) while the combat runs.

[Atrocities]

Go Captain Kwok, GO! Blow them out of the stars! Your our HERO! OH NO LOOK OUT! Ohhhhhhh they got him.

[Yimboli]

reminds me of dungeon keeper! =O

[BBegemott]

Hei
Speaking about the combat... is it really 3D? I do recall watching an intro-film with upcoming SE5 features, and combat as one of them. What dissapointed me- I saw the ships moving in circles so they could use their weapons that are built in on both sides of the ship. Hey, I saw that before - in Pirates Of the Carribbean (sp sry). SE5 ships move the same like ships in POFC! Ouch. Why don't spaceships use 3rd dimmenssion? I think rotating along its own axis is much more cost efficient rather than making a big circle.
For this reason a new type of engines could be introduced- that provide rotating speed.
If 3rd dimmension in SE5 will be like it is in Starfury- sry, that's not 3D.

[Fyron]

Malfador has never claimed SE5 to have a 3D grid, just 3D rendering.

[Hunpecked]

With regard to weapons on opposite sides of the ship, you could get the same effect as 3D rotation by just allowing all weapons to engage at once, regardless of facing.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Homeworld and Homeworld2 both have 3d combat. Neither of them got as far in the market as many other RTS's. Many people just can't handle 3d combat.

[Timstone]

BBegemott said:
...I think rotating along its own axis is much more cost efficient rather than making a big circle.
For this reason a new type of engines could be introduced- that provide rotating speed...

Never heard of the pilots saying: "A sitting duck is a dead duck."
It's best to be on the move, that way you're more difficult to hit. Go ahead and try it with a helicopter in any given flight sim.

[Kana]

I was wondering how range is calculated, and the size of the combat area in SEV? I was going over some material for my SFB mod, and was wondering if SEV uses some arbitrary LOS measurement (KM?, AU?) or if its still based on squares or hexes. Also the size of the combat area would affect the maximum range that we could apply to weapons, and the effects of movement of the ships. Especially if the retreat option is included.

Kana

[Ed Kolis]

Supposedly the combat area is infinite, combat is Starfury style with floating-point distances, and there is retreat, so presumably ships need to reach a certain distance from all enemies to retreat, or issue a "warp out" order which takes some time to execute (ala MOO2)...